Powder can closure



y 23, 1940- G. P. PETERSON 2,202,466

POWDER CAN CLOSURE Filed April 19, 1938 Patented May 1940 UNITED STATES PAT EN OFFICE r v POWDER CAN cLosURE; I Gunnard P, Peterson, Naugatuck,Conn assignor.

' to g .The Risdon Manufacturing Company,

Naugatuck, Oonm, a corporation of Connecticut, Application April 19, 19'ss, se ria1 nazoasz's 1 Claim. (01. 221-62) eifect can be produced at the same or a less cost than existing powder packages. Slide-top powder cans have heretofore been made leak-proof,

but only at a considerable manufacturing cost,

incident to the accurate fitting of the parts, and

there has long been an important demand for a low cost package that would be attractive in form and leak-proof and reach the dealerin a clean condition. This demand is satisfied by the present invention, which consists in the detailed design and organization out of sheet metal stampings of the base and cover part of the closure structure, as will now be pointed out.

In the drawing,

Figure 1 illustrates the perspective of a powder can employing the new closure;

Figure 2 is a cross section of the closure before application to the can;

Figures 3 and 4 are respectively perspectives of the closure base and cover slide;

Figures 5 and 6 are sections of the closure in open and closed positions respectively;

Fig. '7 is a detail and Fig. 8 is a perspective of the preferred shape.

The can body of any desired shape, commonly oval in section, is marked I and may be of paper or metal, as desired. It has a metal header wall 2 and the closure structure of this invention may be formed on or attached to the latter. Such closure structure consists of two parts, separately shown in Figs. 3 and 4, both sheet metal stampings such as can be made in ordinary punch presses entirely automatically and at a high rate of production, this being a factor of its low production cost. The base part of the closure, shown separately in Fig. 3, is formed of a skirt part 3 which is round or circular in section and a dome part 4, which is square in section or substantially square. The metal is folded into aflange 5 between its round and circular sections, and the square dome rises from this flange, which may be called an attachment or base flange. While the dome is referred to as square its corners are in fact somewhat rounded or bevelled, and as shown in Fig. 8 two of its sides are slightly curved to harmonize more closely with curved-sided cans.

The bevellin g of'the corners of the dome'is' for the purpose Qfmaking it as large as possible with relation to the size of the circular flange 5, and important because it simplifies cost and press work and likewise because it improves appearance. The diagonal of the square, it is to be punch observed, is substantially equal to the diameter of the circular section of the skirt andattachment The powder outlet 6 is cut in the flat top wall of the square dome at one side of its center and is oblong in shape-extending cross-wise of the cover motion. It is normally closed by the fiat part 1 of the cover slide, the other end of which is formed with two upwardly bossed beads or ribs 8 to provide thumb grips by which the slide is operated. These ribs serve an important function in that, being close to the flat part 1, they tend to stiffen it against warping tendencies and thus enable said part to maintain a perfect closure of the outlet. When the cover slide is in its normal closed position, its front and rear margins closely register with the margins of the square dome, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 6 wherein it will be seen that the cover has substantially the same contour in plan as the dome-top, and it may be noted that the square shoulders of the cover fit and slide upon the square shoulders of the dome, the arrangement being such as to form a support for the sliding member at all its points thereby so guarding against its distortion from accidental impacts, which would obstruct its free sliding movement, that it can be made of relatively thin metal without impairing its efiiciency as a closure.

The slide is confined to the square dome by two out lugs 9, one. in each of its side flanges I0, which lugs engage in indented grooves ll, formed in the corresponding side walls of the square dome, the grooves being slightly sloped downward toward the closed position, so as to bind the flat slide-top 1 upon the fiat dome-top in the closed position of the parts. They are referred to as cam-sloped grooves. Emphasis isplaced on the fact that the slide lugs are out out of metal of the side flange and engage the upper wall of the grooves II by their upper cut edges, and on the further fact that these out edges are straight and extend for some distance in the direction of sliding. See Fig. 7. This arrangement tends to avoid the objection present in most prior art can tops, having cam grooves to tighten the closure, in that it substantially reduces the tendency of the side flanges ID to spread apart when put under the strain incident to the camming action. A coincident and important difference from prior art cans is that these lugs 9 are formed on the front ends of the side flanges and that while they limit the extent to which the slide may be opened, by abutting against the ends of the dome grooves H, they do not normally abut against the opposite ends, i. e., the low ends, of those grooves to limit the extent of the closing movement. Such closing movement is stopped only by the binding contact of the fiat slide top 1 upon the fiat dome top around the outlet 6, as the result of the camgroove action, and occurs before the lugs have reached the forward or lowest ends of the grooves, as shown in Fig. 6.

cam-sloped grooves, where such have been used, have served to limit the coverslide in both directions of movement and tightness of the powder closure has been sought by making the cover specially flexible. In the present case the tightness results from the lug location and the avoidance of any spreading tendency of the side flanges of the cover which, should it occur, would warp the flat top of the slide and let the-powder out, as well as by the stiffness imparted to the cover by the thumb ribs 8 above referred to.

When the cover slide has been assembled on the square dome in the relation above described, its two side flanges reach practically to the circular attachment flange, as shown in Fig. 1, so that the whole closure structure presents a neat, symmetrical and square-domed appearance, the principal surfaces upstanding from the top of the can being square, or substantially square, to

In powder can covers, as heretofore proposed and patented, the ends of the aeoaeee each other, giving an effect which is considered attractive by the trade. As thus constructed it is a simple matter to attach the circular skirt part 3 of the structure to the can body and make it leak-tight after the slide has been snapped in place in its working position. This can be done by spinning, if desired, so as to make a specially secure leak-proof seam.

Iclaim:

A powder can closure comprising a circular base having an attachment skirt and a substantially square-sectioned and flat-topped dome rising centrally and symmetrically from said base and provided with a powder outlet near its front edge and with indented cam-sloped grooves in its opposite side walls, said base and dome being wholly formed of sheet metal stamped to shape, in combination with a stamped sheet-metal sliding cover having a top area no greater than that of the dome and of substantially the same contour as said dome, and having-square shoulders with vertical side flanges with instruck'lugs engaging said grooves for slidingly confining the cover to the dome, said cover being fiat on its front portion to close the powder outlet and said instruck lugs being located wholly in the front part of said cover vertically below such fiat cover portion and occupying the lower parts of said camsloped grooves, short of the front ends thereof, when the cover is fully closed.

GUNNARD P. PETERSON. 

